A top boys’ boarding school in Pretoria had to drag the Gauteng Department of Education to the High Court to expel a pupil who threatened to shoot and kill a teacher, reports News24.

Pretoria Boys High’s SGB withdrew its urgent court application at the eleventh hour, but not because the school got what it wanted. The department has prevented the school from expelling the boy, instead ordering he be allowed to return with a 12-month suspended sanction and a series of intervention programmes.

The troubled teen remains at the school, a decision the SGB disagrees with.

‘The school governing body of Pretoria Boys High respectfully but firmly disagrees with the department’s response in this regard and will consider taking it on review,’ it said on Friday.

In an affidavit filed as part of the school’s urgent court application before the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria), the 16-year-old was found to have sent a chilling WhatsApp voice note to classmates that left little room for interpretation.

‘If you see a school shooting, just know it was me, because I’m gonna blow this school up,’ he said, specifying a teacher as his first target.

The threat was not the school’s first warning sign. In November 2025, the pupil had been issued a final written warning after testing positive for marijuana and being removed from the school’s boarding house.

He was set corrective conditions, including community service, a 10-page research project on the dangers of drugs, drug retesting and psychological counselling, and warned explicitly further misconduct would be referred for formal disciplinary action.

In February, he tested positive for marijuana again.

The shooting threat only came to light when, during an investigation into a separate alcohol incident in which videos of the pupil and his friends drinking off-campus circulated, a classmate’s phone was voluntarily handed to school management.

According to News24, Instagram videos showed the pupil and his brothers handling and showing off firearms while smoking marijuana.

WhatsApp messages revealed discussions about obtaining a Glock pistol and arranging its handover at a petrol station for cash. 

A disciplinary committee recommended immediate expulsion on 27 March.

The recommendation was to sent to the Gauteng Department of Education’s HOD on the same day, triggering a statutory 14-day deadline for a decision under the SA Schools Act.

The HOD missed that deadline without explanation and when the department responded, it directed the school to allow the pupil to return.

Between March and early May, the SGB repeatedly contacted the HOD, sending letters and issuing warnings of legal action.

None of it moved them. The school filed an urgent High Court application on 12 May, seeking an order requiring the HOD to act within two court days.

The matter was removed from the roll two days later.

Full News24 report